I'm still here with you
by xchristinex
Summary: With Wally gone, Artemis tries to deal with her life. Unable to cope she resigns from the team to work on herself. What she doesn't know is that Wally is still there, but as a ghost. The only member of the team able to see him at the moment is Zatanna.
1. Resigning

"Artemis, you can't leave too. We've already lost Dick for a while; we need you on the team." Aqualad held the resign papers in his hand, glancing over them for a moment before returning his gaze to Artemis. "It's a small leave, it's not permanent." Artemis answered quietly, hanging her bow up next to the shelves that held all of the souvenirs Wally had collected over the years. Superboy, Beastboy, and M'gann stood nearby watching as the two spoke.

"Kaldur… I'm tired. It's been four months since Wally died, I need a break. I thought using Tigress would work but it didn't. I need time alone. Wally… meant everything to me, and with him gone; I'm sorry…" Artemis gripped the front of her shirt, keeping her back to Aqualad. He looked over to the three of their teammates standing there, M'gann gave a small nod;_ "It couldn't hurt."_ She mouthed, the words ringing in Aqualad's head. "I'm sorry..." He responded gently, making his way to Artemis he placed a hand on her shoulder lightly, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I haven't been the best at understanding your feelings, Wally meant a great deal to all of us. Take as much time as you need." She turned her head to look at him for a moment, resting her hand on top of his. "Thank you." She removed her hand, and then walked into the zeta tube. The computer read out, "Artemis B07."

"Just give her some time Kaldur… Wally's death was hard for all of us, but her and Dick the most." M'gann folded her arms, giving a small shrug before heading out into the meeting room with Superboy. Beast boy watched Aqualad for a moment before turning and following the others.

Aqualad sighed softly; walking over to the computer he typed the information in, and then tucked the papers into a folder with Nightwings information.

Artemis took the hair tie out of her hair, tying her hair in a lower ponytail. She made her way towards the city, to a small apartment not far from the old head quarters, Mount Justice. She just needed to talk to someone who would understand.

Once she reached the apartment, she knocked on the door and waited for an answer. She heard nothing, but she knew he was there. Just as she went to grab her cell phone the door opened, Dick stood there, still in his pajamas but he still had on sun glasses. "Artemis. Are you okay?" Her eyes met his for a moment, "I resigned for a while…" before he could answer she wrapped her arms around him, burying her head into his chest. "I didn't know where else to go…"

Dick pulled her inside; shutting the door behind them then wrapped his arms around her. "I miss him too." Artemis sniffled; Pulling away she wiped her face with the sleeve of her jacket, "I tried.. But I just can't do it." Dick nodded, motioning his hand toward the couch. "You want anything to eat or drink?" Her eyes wandered over the room, "Just water." She chuckled softly at the mess, "Do you ever clean?"

Dick laughed to himself while pouring her water, making his way back to the living room he handed the glass to her. "Zatanna gets onto me about that too; I guess I do need to clean. I just… haven't been in the mood for it." She nodded, "I get it." Taking a sip of her water she gripped the bottom of her shirt, and then set the cup down on the table. "You want to talk about it?" Dick asked, knowing the thought was weighing on her mind.

"We had it all planned out. We were going to resign, unless you needed us for a mission. We were going to finish college, and then… We were going to get married." Artemis bit her lower lip, closing her eyes for a moment. "None of this seems real. How do you deal with it…?" Dick placed his hand on her back, rubbing it a little. "I haven't really dealt with it. I've been trying to occupy myself with other things; Mostly college, sleep and video games. Batman would be furious if he knew I haven't been training or working out at all."

"I don't think he would mind all that much.. You're grieving, in your own way. He would understand." Artemis responded quietly, "I tried to work as Tigress but even then Wally was a part of Tigress's life too. Maybe not in the same way as my life but, I just need time off."


	2. We'll find a way

Aqualad pulled up all the information for their new mission on the computer screen, Batman gave a brief summary about what the mission was and then left the rest to Aqualad. "Okay team, we are going to split into groups. Super Boy, Kid Flash, Beast Boy and Robin, you four will be teamed together. When I give the signal you will ambush the outside gates. Wonder Girl, Miss Martian, and Blue Beetle, you three will infiltrate the inside, once Super Boy and the others are finished they will come and help out. Batgirl, and Bumblebee, I need you to hack into their computer mainframe system and shut everything down. Lagoon Boy and I will go in through water pipes underneath the building and take them by surprise. Zatanna, I need you to stay inside the ship and keep an eye out for everyone and let them know if there is danger nearby. Batgirl and Robin designed little robots that will go with each team and attach to an item nearby, what the cameras see you will see Zatanna. If we're all clear then let's get moving."

As they arrived to their destination Aqualad went over the plan once more, making sure everyone understood their assignments. Getting the robots ready he handed them to each team then asked if there were any questions, but no one responded. "Alright, everyone needs to go into stealth mode for this mission. Let's go. Zatanna, watch our backs." Zatanna gave a small nod as everyone headed out.

The screens lit up inside the ship as the cameras connected to something near the team, "Robin, you have incoming at 3'o clock." She watched as they took care of the man, and then turned to look at all the cameras keeping an eye on everyone. "Everyone's good, keep going."

"Did you know Artemis took time off from the team?!" Wally faded into view behind her. Zatanna jumped, goose bumps crawling all over her skin. "Everything okay Zatanna?" M'gann came on the headset. Zatanna sighed softly, glaring at Wally, "Everything is fine." She grunted, "Just a bug that's all…" Muting her microphone, she turned around in her chair, still keeping an eye on the screens every few seconds.

"What are you doing here? We're on a mission." Zatanna watched the screens as she waited for his answer. Wally went to grab the chair next to her but his hand went straight through it, "Dang… I still haven't got it down yet. I'm sorry. I just… I'm worried about Artemis, and Dick. I check on them every day, I try to get their attention but this whole ghost thing isn't working. I miss being able to eat. Artemis seems to be getting worse…" He sighed, running his hand through his hair to flatten it but it bounced right back up.

Zatanna took her headset off mute for a moment before turning it back on. "Aqualad you have droids coming behind you." She looked at each set of cameras. A new screen faded onto the screen, signaling that Batgirl had already managed to tap into the main frame system. The missions proceeded as told to. "I know she's getting worse. I tried to take her on a girl's night out, but she turned me down. She told Kaldur she needed a break, Tigress wasn't working because even then you were sort of a part of Tigress's life too." Her eyes scanned over the screens, everything was going as planned, and everyone was fighting well.

"I don't know what to do…Do you know how boring it is to be a ghost?" Wally took a deep breath before reaching his hand out to touch the chair again, his hand staying firm on it this time. He smiled then sat down next to her. Looking over the screens he pointed to the left screen as Zatanna took her mic off mute again. "M'gann, you guys have incoming ahead, three factory workers, you guys should be able to take them out easily." She muted the mic once more and glanced over at Wally. "I know it's hard… I wish there was something we could do to bring you back."

"It isn't as bad as the first week. I couldn't even try to talk to you because I kept fading out. I tried to reach out to M'gann but I guess she doesn't have ghost seeing abilities…" He chuckled, "I've found out if I stay calm while trying to touch something solid I can do it, but if I'm not calm I go right through it."

"It's good you have it sort of figured out…" Zatanna searched through the screens, "I'll try and ask around and see if I can find a way to bring you back. It might be hard since we don't have your body though…"

"I know." Wally responded quietly, "but we have to try… I can't watch Dick and Artemis be the way they are. They're barely getting by." Zatanna nodded, "Yeah… Dick has turned down some of our dates too. I hate seeing him and Artemis like this. I promise, we'll find a way."


	3. Girls night out

Sorry I was a little late at posting this chapter. I'm at my Aunt's so things are kind of hectic right now.

~C

Artemis had not gone anywhere since she took a leave from the team. Mostly she lay around her apartment and did nothing. Her mother had tried calling her a few times, but Artemis didn't answer. She was furious with herself; if she hadn't talked Wally into retiring from the team then maybe he would have been fast enough to still be alive.

Part of her knew that this wasn't true, but she wanted to believe it was. She wished badly she could go back in time and fix everything, start over. She sat there with her head in her hands, heaving her shoulders up and down as if she was crying, but there were no tears left. She was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Zatanna knew that Artemis needed a break from herself, she knew inside she was beating herself up. She smiled as the door opened; she looked exhausted, and inside was a mess. "Oh hey Zatanna." Artemis forced a smile for her friend; she didn't want others to be worried about her.

"So movie time, then dinner." Zatanna gave a thumbs up, putting her hand on her hip. Artemis' smile faded slowly, "I don't know…Maybe another time?" She felt horrible for putting off her friends but she didn't want to hang out with them and be miserable the whole time.

"I wasn't asking." Zatanna stated, sliding past Artemis into the apartment. She went into her room and picked an outfit out, handing it to her as she followed her into the room. "Come on. You need some time out. I get that you wanted a break from missions and work, but you can't take a break from your friends." She walked out of the room, leaving Artemis alone to change.

Artemis closed the door behind her, sighing softly to herself. There was no way of getting out of this. She put on the outfit Zatanna picked out then turned to the mirror. She had been wearing her hair down a lot since she left the team. Grabbing a hair tie off the dresser she tied her hair in a low pony tail. After checking herself over once more she walked out into the living room, "Okay. I'm ready I guess."

"Look at this place, it's a mess. She would have yelled at me if I left our place like this."Wally huffed; he had followed Zatanna there to check up on Artemis. Zatanna glanced over at Wally, giving him the 'not now' look. "What's wrong?" Artemis questioned, looking to where Zatanna was looking.

She shook her head, "Nothing…It's messy, reminds me of Dick's apartment." She chuckled then linked her arm with Artemis' pulling her towards the door. "Sure. Let's just pretend Wally's not here because no one can see him. Damn this ghost thing." Wally threw his hands in the air, shouting sarcastically. He knew only Zatanna could see him, he just didn't know why.

Zatanna rolled her eyes before closing the door behind them. They stayed quiet for most of the walk to the theater until they stopped right outside. "So what do you want to see?" Zatanna asked, glancing over at Artemis. "Anything is fine with me, I think a new funny movie came out, we could go see that if you want?" Zatanna nodded, a funny movie would be good. She walked up to the ticket window and ordered the tickets. "Three… I mean two tickets for the new comedy movie." The guy took her money then handed her the tickets. She forgot that Wally didn't need a ticket, he was invisible.

"I'm surprised she didn't pick the romantic mushy movie, those are usually the ones she likes the most." Wally inquired; Artemis had gotten up to go to the bathroom. "Wally, I'm trying to cheer her up, not make her feel even worse…" Zatanna looked over at him, he was pale, and his freckles were hardly noticeable when he was in this state.

She had spent the last few nights reading through books and articles, trying to find a way to bring him back, but nothing yet. Her eyes darted back to the screen as Artemis walked in and sat down, "Did I miss anything good?" She asked; Zatanna gave a small shrug, "Not really, a guy got attacked and that's it."Artemis chuckled then returned her gaze to the screen.

They finished the movie and went to dinner t a small pizza place. Artemis wasn't that great at talking anymore, she didn't do anything exciting so there wasn't much for her to say. "We had a mission the other night, and one of the enemies was really good at using a bow. He kind of reminded me of you, except you aren't evil." Zatanna laughed; looking up at Artemis to see a small smile appear on her face.

After finishing the pizza Zatanna walked back with her to the apartment. Wally made small comments about something had changed since he died, Zatanna tried to ignore him for the time being. As they made it to Artemis' apartment, Zatanna hugged her; "It was nice getting to hang out with you, Dick still doesn't get out much." She shrugged slightly. Artemis smiled, "I had fun, thanks for taking me out. Maybe we can do it again next week or something?" Zatanna nodded then said goodnight; Artemis closing the door behind her.

"I'm sorry I didn't pay much attention to you… it's just no one else can see you. I don't want Artemis to know yet."Zatanna spoke softly, turning her head to look at Wally. "I get it." He chuckled, scratching the back of his head. His smiled faded as someone walked right through him, he looked over to Zatanna giving her a small shrug even though it bothered him greatly.

"I've been reading a lot; I still haven't been able to find anything. If I don't find anything by the end of the week, I'll go to Fate and see if he can help at all. I want to do anything I can to get you back to your old self." Zatanna touched his shoulder as she entered her apartment. "Don't worry Kid, we'll figure this out."


End file.
